Ukrainian government to allocate additional UAH 324.7B for defense

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved amendments to the 2025 State Budget, allocating additional UAH 324.7 billion for defense by the end of the year.

Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko announced this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

“By the end of the year, we will direct additional UAH 324.7 billion for defense — today the Government approved amendments to the 2025 State Budget,” she wrote.

Svyrydenko clarified that of this amount, over UAH 310 billion will go to the general fund, including UAH 301 billion for the Ministry of Defense.

Specifically, UAH 202 billion will be used for military personnel salaries; UAH 100 billion for the procurement of weapons, primarily drones of all types — including fiber-optic FPV drones, interceptor drones, and deep-strike drones; UAH 8 billion for other military expenses such as transport, fuel, and operational costs.

According to the Prime Minister, the decision is driven by the dynamics on the front lines and constantly changing combat conditions.

“Russia is not stopping; it is changing its tactics on the battlefield and intensifying attacks on our energy infrastructure in the rear. We must remain flexible and quickly adapt our spending to provide our military with all the necessary means and resources to counter the enemy,” she emphasized.

Svyrydenko explained that the main source of financing for the increased expenditures is EUR 6 billion (UAH 294.3 billion) from the European Union under the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration for Ukraine (ERA) initiative.

Additionally, the government has nearly UAH 30 billion in extra budget revenues, savings on debt payments, and cuts in non-priority spending.

“Thus, the purchase of drones will be financed by frozen Russian assets. We are grateful to our partners from the EU and the G7 countries for this. The next step now lies with the members of parliament — we hope for a prompt approval of the budget amendments in the Verkhovna Rada to ensure continued support for Ukraine’s Defense Forces,” Svyrydenko noted.

As Ukrinform reported, since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, almost UAH 82.3 billion has been transferred from the special account opened by the National Bank of Ukraine for defense needs, including UAH 3.8 billion in September alone.